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Thursday, November 14, 2013

ScienceDaily: Top Science News

ScienceDaily: Top Science News


Expert assessment: Ocean acidification may increase 170 percent this century

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 06:38 PM PST

In a major new international report, experts conclude that the acidity of the world's ocean may increase by around 170 percent by the end of the century bringing significant economic losses. People who rely on the ocean's ecosystem services -- often in developing countries -- are especially vulnerable.

Fossil of new big cat species discovered: Oldest ever found

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 03:26 PM PST

Scientists have discovered the oldest big cat fossil ever found -- which fills in a significant gap in the fossil record.

Buried leaves reveal precolonial eastern U.S. forests and guide stream restoration

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 03:25 PM PST

Sediment behind milldams in Pennsylvania preserved leaves deposited just before European contact that provide a glimpse of the ancient forests, according to a team of geoscientists, who note that neither the forests nor the streams were what they are today.

Gut microbes in healthy kids carry antibiotic resistance genes

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 03:24 PM PST

Friendly microbes in the intestinal tracts of healthy American children have numerous antibiotic resistance genes that could be passed to harmful microbes, according to a pilot study.

Your brain sees things you don't

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 01:25 PM PST

A study indicates that our brains perceive objects in everyday life of which we may never be aware. The finding challenges currently accepted models about how the brain processes visual information.

Impulsivity, rewards and ritalin: Monkey study shows tighter link

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 01:23 PM PST

Even as the rate of diagnosis has reached 11 percent among American children aged 4 to 17, neuroscientists are still trying to understand attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). One classic symptom is impulsivity — the tendency to act before thinking.

Nature's glowing slime: Scientists peek into hidden sea worm's light

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 12:26 PM PST

Scientists are unraveling the mechanisms behind a little-known marine worm that produces a dazzling bioluminescent display in the form of puffs of blue light released into seawater. Found around the world in muddy environments, from shallow bays to deeper canyons, the light produced by the "parchment tube worm" is secreted as a slimy bioluminescent mucus.

Warming since 1950s partly caused by El Niño

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 12:25 PM PST

A natural shift to stronger warm El NiƱo events in the Pacific Ocean might be responsible for a substantial portion of the global warming recorded during the past 50 years, according to new research.

New treatment discovered to cure MRSA infection

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 11:41 AM PST

Recent work promises to overcome one of the leading public health threats of our time. In a groundbreaking study, the team presents a novel approach to treat and eliminate methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a potent bacterium whose resistance to antibiotics has kept it one step ahead of researchers. That is, until now.

Fantastic phonons: Blocking sound, channeling heat with 'unprecedented precision'

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 11:32 AM PST

The phonon, like the photon or electron, is a physical particle that travels like waves, representing mechanical vibration. Phonons transmit everyday sound and heat. Recent progress in phononics has led to the development of new ideas and devices that are using phononic properties to control sound and heat, according to a new review.

Novel gene therapy works to reverse heart failure

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 11:31 AM PST

Researchers have successfully tested a powerful gene therapy, delivered directly into the heart, to reverse heart failure in large animal models.

Fatty acid produced by gut bacteria boosts the immune system

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 10:22 AM PST

New research sheds light on the role of gut bacteria on the maturation of the immune system and provides evidence supporting the use of butyrate as therapy for inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease.

Astronomers reveal contents of mysterious black hole jets

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 10:22 AM PST

An international team of astronomers has answered a long-standing question about the enigmatic jets emitted by black holes. Jets are narrow beams of matter spat out at high speed from near a central object, like a black hole. Although they have been observed for decades, astronomers are still not sure what they are made of, or what powers them.

Newly discovered protist suggests evolutionary answers, questions

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 10:21 AM PST

From Massachusetts to Mississippi, a unicellular protist is hinting at answers about the evolution of multicellularity while raising a whole new set of questions.

Monkeys 'understand' rules underlying language musicality

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 10:00 AM PST

Many of us have mixed feelings when remembering painful lessons in German or Latin grammar in school. Languages feature a large number of complex rules and patterns: using them correctly makes the difference between something which "sounds good," and something which does not. However, cognitive biologists have shown that sensitivity to very simple structural and melodic patterns does not require much learning, or even being human: South American squirrel monkeys can do it, too.

Better batteries through biology? Modified viruses boost battery performance

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 09:58 AM PST

Researchers find a way to boost lithium-air battery performance, with the help of modified viruses.

Social networks make us smarter

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 07:57 AM PST

The secret to why some cultures thrive and others disappear may lie in our social networks and our ability to imitate, rather than our individual smarts, according to a new study.

'Missing heat' discovery prompts new estimate of global warming: Arctic warming fast

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 06:22 AM PST

Scientists say they have found "missing heat" in Earth's climate system, casting doubt on suggestions that global warming has slowed or stopped over the past decade. The new research shows that the Arctic is warming at about eight times the pace of the rest of the planet.

Young stars paint spectacular stellar landscape

Posted: 13 Nov 2013 05:01 AM PST

Most stars do not form alone, but with many siblings that are created at about the same time from a single cloud of gas and dust. NGC 3572, in the southern constellation of Carina (The Keel), is one of these clusters. It contains many hot young blue-white stars that shine brightly and generate powerful stellar winds that tend to gradually disperse the remaining gas and dust from their surroundings. The glowing gas clouds and accompanying cluster of stars are the subjects of a new picture from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile.

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